In 2013, a supernatural phenomenon known as the Bell Witch Haunting gained attention in the small town of Adams, Tennessee. The Bell Witch Haunting refers to a series of paranormal events that allegedly took place in the early 19th century involving the Bell family. According to folklore, the haunting began when John Bell Sr. encountered a strange creature in the fields near his home. Shortly after this encounter, the Bell family started experiencing unexplained phenomena, such as strange noises, objects moving on their own, and physical attacks. The entity responsible for these disturbances claimed to be a spirit named Kate Batts, who was supposedly a neighbor accused of witchcraft in the past.
Film / The Bell Witch Haunting
The Bell Witch Haunting is a 2013 Found Footage Horror Film by The Asylum, a Mockbuster of An American Haunting and Paranormal Activity. The Sawyer family bought a house in Robertson County. Shortly after the purchase, their daughter starts having night terrors, their son develops an obsession with filming everything, weird things happen in the house, and people start dying.
The entity responsible for these disturbances claimed to be a spirit named Kate Batts, who was supposedly a neighbor accused of witchcraft in the past. As the haunting intensified, neighboring communities became aware of the Bell family's plight. Many visitors flocked to witness the supernatural events.
This film exhibits the following tropes:
- Always on Duty: Officer Bungalon seems to be the only police officer ever dispatched in the film.
- Found Footage: The film is ostensibly a compilation of footage found on various cameras found on the scene. The authorities were courteous enough to edit together the footage in the exact format for a horror film, including inserting logos for the electrocuted electrician's web broadcast.
- Historical Domain Character: Features the Bell Witch , a well-known legend in the Tennessee region. They even bring up the Wikipedia page.
- Hollywood Exorcism: The family brings in an unnamed priest to attempt an exorcism. He proceeds to read the rite from cue cards. It doesn't go well.
- Neck Snap: A one-handed neck snap is performed on the priest by the possessed.
- Sleepwalking: Par for the course for a supernatural Found Footage film, multiple family members start sleepwalking.
- Supernatural-Proof Father: Averted. Scott experiences just as many weird activities as the rest of the family, but insists that they cannot leave because this is their house.
Movie Review: The Bell Witch Haunting
Let me start this by pointing out I am not the film person when it comes to DHR. If you want really solid, excellent opinions on film, you want Ellen, or check out Dan’s excellent Chad Factor series. But film reviews are something I would like to do a bit more of, so here we are. And I absolutely have suggested Dan take a look at this film in particular for Chad Factor, but also I kind of don’t want him to have to go through that, so we’ll see.
Let’s start by pointing out the summary states ‘based on true events’. The ‘true events’ relate only (as far as I can tell) to the original Bell Witch legend, not the events portrayed in the film, which is how the description makes it sound.
This is a found footage film. That subgenre that tends to make people either turn completely away, or glue their faces to the screen completely hooked. For me, found footage is a horror subgenre that is either amazingly done, or terrible. No so bad it’s good films to be found here, which is a shame because at least those horror films are fun.
After a sort of grisly opening, the film takes us to a birthday party for a teenage boy who quickly proves insufferable. We’re introduced to his equally insufferable family – a sister and parents. They’ve only recently moved into the area, and have no idea about the fairly famous and well known Bell Witch legend. Actually, even the people who live in the area haven’t heard about it, which is strange as there’s a Bell Witch festival, so I can only assume the creators of the film didn’t do their research into this. (As a sidenote, this festival looks great and I would definitely like to go one year.)
This is one of those films that feels completely and utterly wasted. The found footage aspect comes from the boy who gets a new camera for his birthday, so immediately films everything, including his sister going through night terrors and their parents trying to comfort her. The sister has a vlog, ‘Dressing with Dana’, which would be a great opportunity to have another POV come in, but this is criminally underused.
The film feels torn on what it wants to say. The characters’ actions make no sense, and as the threat draws closer it seems to be drawn to Dana, but this only goes as far as her having night terrors rather than doing anything actually interesting. It’s low budget, which would be fine, except for the shots where that is painfully obvious and you can see the ropes and wires lifting up various objects. The acting is poor, though this feels like a script issue rather than the actors used. They don’t communicate like a family, and when people start dying around them, they really don’t give a shit.
For some reason, there is only one policeman in this town, and we constantly get footage from his bodycam. Why is he on his own, constantly, when they know there are murders going on? Why does he never have any backup? Why does he react to everything like he’s some random civilian that’s stumbled across a body, rather than an actual trained policeman? Also, this same guy goes repeatedly to the family, because all the deaths are in the same area as them, and he knows there’s weird shit going on but never actually investigates them?
There are so many holes in this film and threads left dangling, it quickly becomes infuriating. As is all too common in found footage haunted family films, hidden cameras are set up around the house, but Teen Boy puts one in his sister’s room. Why? Just…why?
This is definitely a film attempting to cash in on Paranormal Activity, and in every respect, it fails. It does nothing interesting, puts forward unlikable characters, and rings hollow all too often. No matter how much you love the found footage genre, this is definitely one to miss.
Review by Elle Turpitt
The Bell Witch Haunting (2013)
All Uncredited:-
Director – Glenn Miller, Producers – Paul Bales, David Michael Latt & David Rimawi, Photography – Bryan Koss, Makeup Effects – Tracy Rosen. Production Company – The Asylum.
Cast
Cat Alter (Dana Sawyer), Andrew Hellenthal (Brandon Sawyer), Ted Jonas (Michael Sawyer), Julia Cearley (Janette Sawyer), Benjamin James (Colby), Natalie Burtney (Lisa), M. Steven Petty (Priest), Drew Cash (Scott), James Simenc (Chris), Desi Ivanova (Kristi)
Plot
Video footage taken from police evidence. The Sawyer family moved into a new house in Adams County, Tennessee in January 2011. The teenage son Brandon received a video camera for his birthday and began filming everything that happened. He soon began to record a series of increasingly supernatural happenings occurring around the house. The bodies of the daughter Dana’s friends were then found hung in the nearby woods. As the force began increasingly tormenting them and killing others, Brandon made the discovery that the house was situated on the site of the famous Bell Witch haunting in the 19th Century.
The Found Footage ghost story became a genre unto itself after the success of Paranormal Activity (2007) and sequels. This produced a horde of usually low-budget imitators such as Lake Mungo (2008), Haunted Changi (2010), Emergo/Apartment 143 (2011), Grave Encounters (2011), Haunted Poland (2011), 7 Nights of Darkness (2011), Muirhouse (2012), The Borderlands (2013) and 21 Days (2014). The Asylum, a company known for their habit of ripping off other people’s ideas and titles, jumped in with the idea of setting a ghost story on the site of a famous murder or haunted house with The Haunting of Winchester House (2009) and continued with Gacy House (2010), Anneliese: The Exorcist Tapes (2011), The Amityville Haunting (2011), A Haunting in Salem (2011), The Haunting of Whaley House (2012) and 100 Ghost Street: The Return of Richard Speck (2012).
The Bell Witch Haunting was a supposedly true incident that occurred between 1817 and 1821 where the Bell family of Adams, Tennessee claim to have been terrorised by a supernatural force. The spirit assaulted the teenage Betsy and struck down the father John Bell with palsy and possibly poisoned him. The Bell family believed this was a curse conjured by local woman Kathe Betts who fell out with John and had him excommunicated from the local church. Later-to-be US President Andrew Jackson supposedly tried to visit the Bell farm and was driven away by the spirit. There have been three films based on the legend with the low-budget The Bell Witch Haunting (2004) and Bell Witch: The Movie (2007), with the most high-profile of these being Courtney Solomon’s An American Haunting (2005).
The Found Footage ghost story (and genre as a whole) has so few original moves to it that most of them have been reduced to cliche within the space of less than a handful of films. By the time of The Bell Witch Haunting , these are starting to seem tiresome in their predictability. A great many of the directorial set-ups here are blatantly borrowed from Paranormal Activity and sequels – the infra-red cameras watching in the bedrooms as people sleep, ones mounted in the dining room and kitchen observing as things randomly fall over or doors shut of their own accord.
James Simenc attacked in the woods
The basic plot of the family moving into the new house, which they then find to be haunted, has been uplifted from The Amityville Horror (1979) – we even get scenes where the father (Ted Jonas) becomes infected by ichor and turns brooding. It is also a film where the need to swing plot points gets in the way of credibility – I can buy that an electrical repairman might want to do a selfie How To film to upload to YouTube as a promotional gimmick but would someone really edit, post-produce and upload footage that showed the electrician being killed (as the on-screen site credits indicate it has)?
Glenn Miller, who as is wont with most Found Footage films, is uncredited. Miller has been a regular Asylum assistant director who subsequently went on to direct The Coed and the Zombie Stoner (2014), Santa Claws (2014), Zoombies (2016) and Aquarium of the Dead (2021). Very occasionally Miller does something that stimulates attention. One of the more interesting images is an infra-red shot where a sheet is levitated from two sleeping girls and then brought down, pinning them to the bed and suffocating them.
The film also gets one mild jolt off where James Simenc goes into the woods to pay tribute to his killed friend only to be abruptly snatched up into the air by a blurred force and his dead body tossed back seconds later. The last section of the film with the attempt to exorcise the house and much running around the woods with possessed people and handheld camera travels into tiresomely cliche areas by which point one switches off altogether.
Prominent figures, such as future President Andrew Jackson, also visited the Bell property out of curiosity. Reports of supernatural occurrences during the Bell Witch Haunting include disembodied voices, physical assaults, and even the poisoning of John Bell Sr., which ultimately led to his death. The entity claimed responsibility for Bell's demise, stating that it had poisoned him over a period of time. The Bell Witch Haunting of 2013 gained attention due to the release of a movie titled "The Bell Witch Haunting" that same year. The film presented a fictionalized account of the events that took place in 19th-century Adams, Tennessee. However, it is important to note that the extent of the actual haunting remains a subject of debate among skeptics and believers. Regardless of the truth behind the Bell Witch Haunting, it remains a significant part of paranormal folklore in Tennessee. The legend continues to fascinate locals and visitors alike, contributing to the town's reputation as a haunted destination..
Reviews for "The Bell Witch Haunting 2013: A Modern Day Paranormal Investigation"
1. Katie - 1/5 stars - I was really disappointed with "The Bell Witch Haunting". The plot was slow and uninteresting, and the acting was subpar at best. I couldn't connect with any of the characters and found myself bored throughout the entire film. The scares were predictable and lacked any real sense of suspense. Overall, I would not recommend watching this film if you're looking for a good horror movie experience.
2. John - 2/5 stars - I had high hopes for "The Bell Witch Haunting", but unfortunately, it fell short of my expectations. The storyline had potential, but it was poorly executed. The pacing was off, with long periods of inactivity that left me disengaged. The special effects were lackluster, and the scares felt contrived. Overall, it was a forgettable horror film that failed to deliver genuine thrills.
3. Emily - 2/5 stars - "The Bell Witch Haunting" was a major letdown for me. The acting was mediocre, and the dialogue felt forced and unnatural. I found it hard to suspend my disbelief and get immersed in the story. The film relied too heavily on jump scares, which quickly became repetitive and unoriginal. The characters were underdeveloped, and I didn't feel any connection or empathy towards them. Overall, this movie lacked originality and failed to leave a lasting impression.
4. Richard - 1/5 stars - I found "The Bell Witch Haunting" to be incredibly boring and unoriginal. The scares were predictable, and the plot was just a rehash of countless other haunted house films. The acting was mediocre, and the characters were one-dimensional. The pacing was slow, and there were several moments where the film lost my interest entirely. I wouldn't recommend wasting your time on this lackluster horror flick.